Planned Programs 2008-2009:                                   

Following are details of the significant Youth Service programs to be supported by Lindfield Rotary this Rotary year.

ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARDS:              

The RYLA program is designed to:
*  Encourage leadership of Youth by Youth,
*  Publicly recognise Young People who give their time and serve as leaders in Youth Organizations.
*  Provide a seminar course to improve leadership skills for those involved as youth leaders.

The 2008 RYLA Camp was held at Vision Valley in early 2008 and the club sponsored three attendees. Applications were sought from suitable candidates, mainly through organizations already serving the youth community. This year two of our sponsored attendees were heavily involved with the Guiding and Scouting movement while the third was involved with Rotoract.

For more information and application forms for 2009 contact Mike Shepherd on 9924 2227 or e-mail mrwoky@optushome.com.au  

Brochures and Application forms may also be downloaded directly at www.d9680ryla.org.au where details of the 2009 program are also available. Simply click the address here or the RYLA logo

Our three excellent 2008 candidates recently visited the club to tell us of their experiences, They made excellent presentations and we can be in no doubt that they have profited from the experience and will seek to leverage that experience in their future endeavours.

ROTARY YOUTH PROGRAM OF ENRICHMENT:    

Teenagers today benefit greatly from opportunities to develop "life skills" and motivation to help them cope with the challenges of a very competitive future.

RYPEN aims to deliver the following outcomes for students around 15 years of age:
*  Increased motivation and improved life skills,
*  Better self image and more pride in themselves,
*  An understanding of setting and achieving goals,
*  The confidence to overcome failure and take control of their future.

We are happy to support our local High Schools with appropriate nominations drawn from Year 10 students in 2008 and hope to identify two candidates from our local schools, with help from the teachers responsible for the 2008 Year 10 program. Successful  nominees will then attend RYPEN in February 2009. For more information  contact Mike Shepherd on 9924 2227 or e-mail mrwoky@optushome.com.au 

We can happily report that 68 Year 10 students attended RYPEN earlier this year.

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE:                   

The Club has recently welcomed back to Australia, Simon Jackson, our nomination for Rotary Youth Exchange, who left in January 2007 for a year in Sweden. Simon has visited the club recently and given us a report of his year, which left us in no doubt as to the benefit of this program. Simon was greatly appreciative of the opportunity afforded him by Lindfield Rotary

In the current Rotary year Lindfield is hosting an Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Nelson Beck. Nelson is attending Killara High School and has recently returned from the Rock and Reef Ramble, a three week trip to the centre of Australia and also over to the Barrier Reef. Nelson is from Brazil and will be with us until January 2009.

Students interested in Rotary Youth Exchange need to be completing their Higher School Certificate in the year before they depart but the selection process commences very early in that year. Click for more detailed information. Assistance can also be had by contacting the Youth Service Director at Lindfield Rotary, Mike Shepherd on PH 9924 2227 or by e-mail to mrwoky@optushome.com.au 

MODEL UNITED NATIONS ASSEMBLY:                                             

Each year Rotary Clubs in the district support teams of senior students from local schools who participate in MUNA.

Each team of two or three students are called upon to represent a UN country in debates on matters of world political and social concern.

The students concerned are able to develop an awareness of the workings of the United Nations and an understanding of where their country stands in world affairs. They have an opportunity to practise and develop their debating skills, to gain confidence in public speaking as well as gain understanding of the international views of other countries.

We supported multiple teams again this Rotary year, and two teams from Killara High representing UK and China were successful in taking 2nd and 3rd place.  MUNA was held at James Ruse High on the first weekend in June 2008. The MUNA website can be reached directly by clicking www.rydalmererotary.org.au   

The club agreed to sponsor attendance at National MUNA in Canberra for our two teams from Killara High School and they were successful in winning the competition so we will shortly welcome the teams at a meeting of the club to tell us about their experiences.

Information describing the basic concept of MUNA, registration forms and detailed procedures, costs and timetables are available on the MUNA website at www.rydalmererotary.org.au , simply click the hyperlink for instant access. 

For more information contact Jim Wells on Ph 9416 1606 or e-mail wellsjc@ozemail.com.au  

PEER SUPPORT AT KILLARA HIGH SCHOOL:

Lindfield Rotary has again provided  financial support for the training of the Year 11 leaders who will take on the peer support roles with the 2009 intake of Year 7. This program is a critical part of the preparation of these young people to take leadership roles in their school and the wider community. The successful trainees will shortly be presented with their certificates at a special lunch held at the school. More information on the program can be had from Jane Roundtree, Head Teacher - Welfare, at KHS. A hyperlink to the Killara High School website is included here, www.khs.nsw.edu.au

 SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FORUMS:       

There are three programs available in this area of service. We will welcome applications for the National Youth Science Forum to be conducted in Canberra in January 2009 and interviews are normally conducted in May with District level interviews  conducted in late July. This program is intensely competitive at a district level because there are typically hundreds of applications but our district is limited to only 15 places. Initial applications are required to be made online at http://www.nysf.edu.au  and copies submitted to a sponsoring club prior to interviews.

The schools in our area have already received information about the Honeywell Engineering Summer School and the Siemans Science Experience directly and our club have followed up with offers of financial support for students interested in applying for either of those programs.

Honeywell takes place in early December, 2008 and targets students entering Year 12 in 2009.

The Siemans Science Experience is conducted in over 30 Universities around Australia and targets students in Year 9 in 2008 who will enter Year 10 in 2009. Programs are held at various times in the year and applicants need to apply for specific programs well before the closing dates for that program.

 Further details of these programs and brochures and application forms can be had from Mike Shepherd, Lindfield Rotary Youth Service Director on 9924 2227 or via e-mail at mrwoky@optushome.com.au It is also possible to download application forms for the Honeywell Engineering Summer School at www.sydney.engineersaustralia.org.au/hess.html and detailed information about the Siemans Science Experience can be accessed at www.scienceexperience.com.au

INTERACT:            

Interact is a Rotary sponsored Youth Services Club centered on a secondary school. There are several in operation in our zone, sponsored by sister clubs but none associated with the secondary schools in our immediate area. The Youth Services Committee will seriously consider this as a new initiative, perhaps in 2009 and investigate the possibilities with nearby secondary schools at that time.

OPERATION HOPE:        

In 2008 we expect to again support Operation Hope, the program organized and run by Wesley Mission for disadvantaged children and conducted at Vision Valley. Lindfield Rotary is happy to sponsor the attendance of four children at the week long camps which occur at various times in the year. We will leave the identification of appropriate attendees to the organizers and the agencies that refer children to them. The program is responsible for some life changing experiences for the attendees, hence the interest and support of Lindfield Rotary Youth Services.